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Now we have done a large amount of work on this I'm happy for all to have a look and give us their opinions, criticisms, suggestions etc.

There is still a great deal of work to be done, please see the list below and if you would like to help out please let me know..

Pedia texts.

More events.

League of Non-Aligned Worlds ships.

Projects.

Vorlons, Shadows & other First Ones

There are probably a thousand things wrong with what has been achieved so far but we can only correct things if you tell us what is wrong.

Maps
The standard map generator for FF is available to use but there are also now Babylon 5 variants to these..

Something to think about - The map edges should simulate the Rim of Space therefore Any ships entering the edge tiles should be classed as going Beyond the Rim and are lost - Need someone really good at modding to be able to resolve this one.

Asteroid tiles
These still function as they do in Final Frontier.

Something to think about - What I'd like to do with the mining facilities is treat them a lot more like the villages used in standard Civ IV with a little difference. Instead of assigning population to the tile to work it thus making it grow the early mining community would draw food from the closest friendly star system it is connected to and once it has reached either a number of turns in supply or a food supplied to it total it would grow to the next size and become more productive.

The next races are all considered Minor races in the B5 universe and as such have been grouped together as the League of Non Aligned Worlds and will be classed as one of these types Aggressive, Passive or Neutral.

There are also many Civ specific buildings and the list is quite large so forgive me for not listing them.

As you can see this is a work in progress. I'll be adding to this as often as time and work permit. Any suggestions or work anyone can do on this would be welcomed. Guidance in helping me learn how to do some of the work myself would also be appreciated. I've found a beginners guide to C++ but it doesn't really help me. I've learnt how to adapt the XML files but couldn't set up any new features in it.

Click the link below to get the most up to date version which includes all of the ship models produced by Premier Valle so far. Ships can be found here if you don't want the B5 Mod but would like to make use of the Shipyard.

How To Install The Babylon 5 Civ 4 BtS Mod:For owners of the original disc copy:
1. If you have the old original dvd version of Civ 4 Complete then you need to make sure that Beyond the Sword has the 3.19 patch installed. Regular Civ 4 & Warlords don't work on modern Windows (7+), sadly Firaxis only fixed them in the steam version grr, however Beyond the Sword with the 3.19 patch still runs fine on modern windows. You can get the patch from HERE .

2. Once you've tested & made sure that Civ 4 Beyond the Sword is working fine. Download the latest version of the Babylon 5 mod 7zip file from HERE (if you haven't already).

3. Go to your Civilization IV install folder, then into the 'Beyond the Sword' subfolder and then finally into the BtS 'Mods' subfolder. Create a 'Babylon 5 V3.3' folder and extract the 7zip files contents into that folder. Do NOT install the mod to the regular vanilla Civilization IV 'Mods' folder. Many people make this mistake!

For owners of the Steam copy:
1. If you have the newer steam version of Civ 4 Complete you will first need to make sure you install the Beyond the Sword version of Civ 4 (for some reason steam separates them into separate installs when you buy their Civ 4 complete).

2. Once you've tested & made sure that Civ 4 Beyond the Sword is working fine. Download the latest version of the Babylon 5 mod 7zip file from HERE (if you haven't already).

3. Just to be even more confusing Steam renamed the main Civilization IV vanilla install folder to 'Civilization IV Beyond the Sword' resulting in people thinking that they are in the BtS mods subfolder when they are not! So go into Civilization IV BtS install folder, then into the 'Beyond the Sword' subfolder and then finally into the BtS 'Mods' subfolder. Create a 'Babylon 5 V3.3' folder and extract the 7zip files contents into that folder. If you're still confused then check out this screenshot of where mine is installed:https://i.imgur.com/CW6EEVq.jpg

4. IMPORTANT! The Babylon 5 Mod will not work properly with the Steam version of Civ 4 BtS due to the steam version of BtS not inserting any Windows registry entries. The game will start but there will be many missing graphics & "Error in FinalFrontierGameUtils callback handler calculateScore" errors. To fix this problem run the 'Civ4SteamRegistryFix.reg' file included with the mod. If your download is missing this file then you can get another copy from HERE .

2. In the main menu go to 'Advanced' and then 'Load a mod'. You should see Babylon 5 V3.3 in the list of mods (If not you've probably got the above installation steps wrong). Activate it and you should be good to go!

You can acess the XML by right clicking on the file and going to open with. Select notepad and its good. For python, I don't see why you need it. From what I can tell, everything you want done can be done in XML. For Final Frontier I don't know because I know the code was modified heavily by firaxis.

In most cases, we only learn, after having straightened out the inverted syntax and deciphered the intricate metaphors, that some great ruler, attended by brave warriors, defeated his enemies at such-and-such a place, thus making the life of the local corpse-eating wolves and ravens a little happier. - Lars Lonnroth, on contemporary descriptions of early medieval battles

Now talking about the buildings, I believe that every race can use the same buildings, but talking about ships, I believe that every race should have its own ships, or perhaps a common ship tree with some modifications for each race...

The one problem with B5 was that you very rarely got to see the planets that the races lived on. Centauri Prime was probably the best featured of the non human worlds. I'm sure with a little thought that unique buildings can be designed for each of the races but i agree with you common buildings for all races.
As for ships, a common ship tree would be best but with a different appearance for each of the races. There's plenty of images on the net that can be used to help create the images/animations for the ships. At the age of 43 i'm struggling to figure out how to use XML. If someone sat with me and showed me i wouldn't have a problem as i'm a fast learner. Alas there's no-one i know of that plays Civ that lives close to me that could help me.

I have seen another thread about events for FF and many of those could be utilised for this proposal.

XML is really easy. It just involves editing a text file. I lean't it in 1 week from the tutorials in the tutorial section. I would sugest making a basic mod to learn the stuff, then work on a final frontier mod.

In most cases, we only learn, after having straightened out the inverted syntax and deciphered the intricate metaphors, that some great ruler, attended by brave warriors, defeated his enemies at such-and-such a place, thus making the life of the local corpse-eating wolves and ravens a little happier. - Lars Lonnroth, on contemporary descriptions of early medieval battles

As it so happens, I can help from a non-modding perspective. I was a long time player of the game Babylon 5 Wars, so I know ALL the names of the various ships. For instance, you had the Minbari Sharlin War Cruiser, the Centauri Vorchan Frigate & the Omega Class Destroyer of the Earth Alliance. The Narn had the G'Quan class cruiser as their primary vessel & the Vree had the Battle Saucer. I will need to check my original sources, but I reckon I can give you the names of over 100 ships from Babylon 5.

Aussie_Lurker.

Don't like how religions are currently founded in Civ4? Feel like religion is nothing but an early tech race, with no other strategy involved? Then try my True Prophets Mod v0.7 for BtS. If you want to discuss this mod, then please check out This Link Also, feel free to try my CivicInfosPlus mod component for BtS & keep an eye out for fully re-worked Civics based on this Mod Component!

Thanks for all of the suggestions and advice.
I'm going to work on the events first as i've got more of information on this than anything else. I also have a copy of what an existing event looks like so all i have to do is amend that and add all the information i want into it.
Hopefully i'll be able to post on here what i've done so it can be pulled apart and my mistakes laid bare. But, that's the only way i'm going to learn anything.

I can't help you work on it, I am working on another mod. I can look at xml files and try and find any errors.

In most cases, we only learn, after having straightened out the inverted syntax and deciphered the intricate metaphors, that some great ruler, attended by brave warriors, defeated his enemies at such-and-such a place, thus making the life of the local corpse-eating wolves and ravens a little happier. - Lars Lonnroth, on contemporary descriptions of early medieval battles

Hi all, here is the first event i've struggled all weekend to put together. At the moment i haven't put into place any of the benefits from making the choices offered mainly as i'm not 100% positive which way to do it. Do you put all of the benefits in regardless of the choice made or is there a separate 'logic' to each response!

I Think there is some Python stuff that goes with the event but whilst i was reading that my brain dribbled out of my ear. So, now it's time to relax and play some Civ for a bit.

Looking forward to everyone telling me that this or that is wrong and that there is huge amounts missing.

I have never done a event modding, but it looks looks good. no missing '<' ,'>', or '/'. One thing I would reccomend. Get the 'base' of the mod done, like ships, civs, techs etc, etc... Leave even modding until later. I don't know your vision exactly for this mod, but I consider custom events, icing on the cake.
EDIT: Please don't take this as trying to be domineering. I fully respect the fact this is your mod.

In most cases, we only learn, after having straightened out the inverted syntax and deciphered the intricate metaphors, that some great ruler, attended by brave warriors, defeated his enemies at such-and-such a place, thus making the life of the local corpse-eating wolves and ravens a little happier. - Lars Lonnroth, on contemporary descriptions of early medieval battles

^^ agreed, I believe Event modding should be done later, on the other hand, I don't recall seeing events in FF, so an experiment to see if Events can happen in FF is a good thing (And I'm sure events can take place in FF).

Now from a developer view, I think that planning comes first, but lets see, (a little warning: I have never created an event ):

Event: Ancient ruins
Text: Extensive ruins of an extinct but obviously advanced civilization have been found in this star system

Options:
1. We should preserve these amazing echoes of greatness for posterity.
2. Excellent! Their loss is our gain; search for valuables!
3. We should study these technological marvels and better ourselves.
4. Let's make this archaeological gold-mine a Planetary Heritage Site and bring in the tourists!

but what are the benefits of each choise??, perhaps:
1. +10 influence on the system
2. + 400 credits
3. + 10% research on the system
4. + 10% credits in the system

or did I miss the benefits in the code. A suggestion:
5th Option: Great! Salvage whatever you can.

5th benefit: You get a free ancient ship! (a ship of the first ones ) <- Warning: the ship can go rogue (remember the Ganymede Shadow vessel?)

-----------

Now, I'm not sure about this:

<TEXT>
<Tag>TXT_KEY_EVENTTRIGGER_GREAT_BEAST</Tag>
<English>%s1_civ_adjective hunters have discovered a great beast lurking near one of their camps</English> </TEXT>

Click to expand...

I know it is a clone of the great beast event, but I don't get the use of these lines.

EDIT: I have also posted on the Units Graphics request thread to see if someone wants to make the B5 ships, but no answer yet..

When it comes to B5 Ships, I have just about every one for the show, either in 3DS or LWS formats, and a lot of the ones used in the B5 Wars minitures game. The problem is getting someone to turn them into units for civ 4.

Cheers, Thorgrimm

“Instead of looking upon America as she is – the New Rome – the puzzled and embittered Europeans prefer to see a new Carthage – soulless, exclusively dedicated to the pursuit of wealth, vaguely hypocritical, the land of sharp and ruthless Yankee businessmen. They fail to see that America today, and alone in the world, has the necessary ingredients of a stable civilized order: moral ideals and ethical purpose.”

From what i've read here and on other threads, i need to do a lot more fleshing out of the overall proposal. Benefits of techs, personalities, buildings etc. As well as ship types I guess I need to outline combat values for the different units and what combat promotions are available with the different tech advancemets will provide. Is there anything else i need to do before i start on the more advanced proposal?

@Thorgrimm
Great man!... mmmhhh, I think I've seen some tutorials on how to do that.

Now, I'm thinking on work on the tech tree, I'll post when I get something.

Click to expand...

If you can actually make them I am pretty sure we can fill the entire ship requirements needed. I have over 136 different B5 models that are already created and textured, including B5 Station and Earth Force One, PsyCorps Mothership, PsyCorps Starfury, Shadow Omega, Warlock, to name just a few.

Cheers, Thorgrimm

“Instead of looking upon America as she is – the New Rome – the puzzled and embittered Europeans prefer to see a new Carthage – soulless, exclusively dedicated to the pursuit of wealth, vaguely hypocritical, the land of sharp and ruthless Yankee businessmen. They fail to see that America today, and alone in the world, has the necessary ingredients of a stable civilized order: moral ideals and ethical purpose.”

Now, I'm thinking on work on the tech tree, I'll post when I get something.

Click to expand...

Premier Valle I'm at work at the moment so i can't show you what i've done so far with a tech tree. As soon as I get home i'll PM you to see how best to proceed with what i've been working on and what ideas you have.